The New Mexico Commission on Higher Education's finance committee voted unanimously Thursday to recommend a 3 percent raise for state universities' faculty and staff and a 4 percent tuition credit to the full commission today.
Beverly Burris, president of UNM's Faculty Senate and a member of the commission, said she read a statement at the committee's meeting in Carlsbad supporting the New Mexico Council of University Presidents' recommendation of a 5 percent raise and 0 percent tuition credit, but it fell on deaf ears.
"The feeling I got from members of the committee was that 5 percent would have been unrealistic," said Burris, who is not a member of the finance committee and did not vote Thursday. "They wanted a recommendation they could defend and expect to get."
A tuition credit is an assumed level of tuition revenue, which is subtracted from formula funding to calculate the state general fund appropriation for a college or university.
The commission's recommendation will go before the state Legislature's finance committee in January.
Opponents of the presidents' council's proposal said money during this year's legislative session in Santa Fe will be tight, Burris said.
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"I tried to make the case that it is unclear how the budget is going to be," she said.
Some committee members suggested a second-tier, or backup, recommendation that would offer two proposals, depending on what funds are available through the Legislature, Burris said.
Top UNM officials argue that staff and faculty need raises, and the money shouldn't necessarily come via tuition increases.
Moreover, UNM leaders don't want the state to dictate tuition increases that could offset the cost of employee raises.
"If we can get a raise from the state, then we wouldn't be forced to" raise tuition, Regent President Jamie Koch said. "What we're saying is give us the five percent, and let the regents deal with tuition."
Pay inequities at UNM has been a hotly debated topic in recent months. Many at the University say salaries here are well below the national average.
"Obviously we need to raise salaries," UNM sociology professor Richard Coughlin said. "The problem is, students are being asked to pay their teachers' salaries."
Coughlin, though, advocates a different approach entirely.
"My sense is that the ideal would be that students don't pay tuition at all," he said. "An investment in higher education is an investment in the productivity of the economy."
